


Snapshot

by Spoodlemonkey



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Coming Out, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Mentioned past Jamie Benn/Tyson Barrie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-13 14:04:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18470458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoodlemonkey/pseuds/Spoodlemonkey
Summary: Accidentally coming out to Tyler via an old photograph certainly isn't how he expected to spend his afternoon.





	Snapshot

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own. Don't know, don't own.

Late afternoon sun is streaming in through the open windows of Jamie’s living room covering them like a warm blanket and casting a soft glow over everything it touches. The coffee table is littered with takeout and empty beer bottles and piles of junk they’ve sorted through and don’t quite know what to do with. Jamie’s phone is hooked up to the speakers playing a mix of throwbacks to the nineties and country music he’s heard on the radio and gotten stuck in his head. Florida Georgia Line is crooning and he’s unashamedly singing along off key, when Tyler _scares the crap out of him_.

_“Jameson_ _!”_

Jamie nearly drops the box of Jordie’s creepy little clown figures he’d been about to move. He manages to get it down onto the couch, clutching at his chest.

“What the _fuck_ , Tyler?”

He’s pretty sure he’s having a _heart attack._ Shot down in the prime of his life and not because Jordie left those fucking clowns _on purpose_ to mess with him. No, it’s his own teammate that does it. Probably after the C after all these years.

Tyler doesn’t seem to notice he nearly murdered Jamie, too busy waving around an old photograph he’s managed to dig out of all of Jordies’ shit.

A year after the trade and the guy still hasn’t claimed all the crap he left with Jamie? Jamie’s keeping what he wants and tossing the rest. He has the space- but honestly, he’s just feeling petty now. Beer and pizza was enough to get Tyler on board with the plan.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” It’s taking a little bit for his heart rate to come back down. He must be getting old.

Tyler pushes to his feet and strides across to him, shoving the picture in his face. Jamie goes a little cross eyed trying to make out what it is. Everything looks like small blurry blobs. Oh god, is his eyesight going too? He’ll be going grey next.

But no, the picture is literally pushed up against his nose. So he grabs it from Tyler’s hand and pulls it back to a _reasonable_ distance. Once he gets a good look at it, he isn’t sure what the problem is. It’s him, back in highschool, eighteen maybe? He’s got his chubby cheeks and bad hair. The picture looks like it was taken at a lake. He’s in board shorts and, oh god, puka shells, and there’s another boy sitting in his lap.

“You had a thing with _Tyson Barrie?”_ Tyler demands and oh.

_Oh shit._

“How could you get that from a picture?” His stomach sinks.

“He’s literally in your lap and that’s your ‘ _in love’_ face.”

“My _what?”_ Jamie sputters but Tyler keeps going.

“Like, of all the guys you could have gotten with that baby face, you went with _Barrie?”_

“Wait.” It’s taking Jamie a minute to wrap his head around the conversation. But he’s pretty sure Tyler isn’t disgusted that he’s bi. “Just so we’re clear, your problem isn’t that he’s a _guy_ , but that he’s _Tyson?”_

“What kind of homophobic hypocrite do you take me for, Jamie?” Tyler actually has the nerve to look wounded. It has the desired effect of making Jamie feel like an ass. Which. What? “You know I’m pan.”

Okay, so _no_ he didn’t. Like, he knew Tyler wasn’t _straight_ , no straight guy deepthroats a popsicle, naked on a zamboni and then plasters the locker room with the pictures to show it off after. But he’s been trying to _not_ keep a close eye on Tyler’s love life, thus saving him a whole lot of heartache in the process. Clearly he’s missed something.

“Tyson Barrie? _Really?”_ Tyler snatches the photo back, making a face at it.

“What do you have against Tyson?”

“We’re talking about you, Jameson. Not me.”

“We were young,” Jamie shrugs. It’s kind of hard to explain that kind of puppy love, of having such a close connection to someone and having it spill over into more. It had been a summer fling, sweet kisses and heavy groping, finding out what they liked and what they didn’t. It hadn’t lasted, but neither of them had really expected it to, and they hadn’t lost their friendship over it. “It’s kind of hard to experiment when you’re playing hockey all the time.”

“Is he the only boy you’ve kissed?” Tyler presses and Jamie can’t help the laugh that escapes him.

“Boy? Really, Tyler?”

“Fine.” Tyler waggles his eyebrows. It’s incredibly cheesy and ridiculously endearing. “Have you kissed a _man_ since, Jameson? Locked lips with a dude, frenched a guy…”

“You’re such a dick.”

“And I’m asking if you’re _into_ it. Dick that is.”

This entire conversation is so fucking surreal.

“Yeah, I am.” He rolls his eyes and tries not to flush as Tyler’s eyebrows _shoot up_. They’re going to escape his face if he’s not careful. “But it’s been awhile and I don’t broadcast it so…”

“So, like, you’ve kissed someone since Barrie, right?”

“What is with your obsession?”  
“Just answer the question, Chubbs.”

Tyler’s lucky he loves him, insanity and all.

He hopes it’s not contagious though.

“Yeah, I’ve kissed a few _guys_ since Tyson.”

Tyler, hilariously enough, looks like he can’t decide between being pleased or even more irate.

“Do I know them?” Tyler claps a hand over Jamie’s mouth before he can answer. “Wait, no, I don’t want to know!”

Jamie licks a wet stripe across his hand, laughing at the disgusted look Tyler gives him as he hastily wipes it on his pants. Like Jordie hasn’t tried that shit repeatedly over the years.

“Why are you so interested all of a sudden?”

“Because I could have asked you out _ages_ ago?” Tyler blurts out and.

Oh. _Oh._

The sweet pink blush that spreads across Tyler’s cheeks is a pretty clear indication that he hadn’t meant to say that. Eyes wide, he stares at Jamie like he’s willing him to get selective amnesia and forget the last few minutes.

There’s no chance in hell that’s happening.

“You could have.” Jamie agrees. Somehow he manages to keep his voice level. “And I would have said yes.”

The hope that blooms across Tyler’s face is a fragile thing. But there isn’t a universe where Jamie doesn’t fall for Tyler from the very start.

“So if you wanted to, like, go get dinner later?”

Jamie grins, plucking the photo back out of Tyler’s hand and tosses it onto the coffee table to be lost in the mess of junk.

“Give me half an hour to get cleaned up.”

Tyler’s smile is blinding.

The afternoon certainly isn’t shaping up the way Jamie had expected it to.

It’s better.


End file.
